A $4 million Shirdi Saibaba Temple has been opened at Suwanee in Atlanta, Georgia.
Some 10,000 devotees attended the week-long vigraha pratistapana kumbhabhishekam celebrations of the temple, called North America Sri Shirdi Sai Temple of Atlanta.
The statue was sculpted in special marble by Rajiv Talim who belongs to same family which made the statue in the Saibaba Temple in Shirdi, Maharashtra, India.
Priest Gopala Bhattar, head priest of Hindu Temple of Atlanta, presided over the pranapratishta and kumbhabhishekam ceremonies, assisted by Shirdi Sai temple priests Suresh Bala Krishnan and Ravi Kumar Medicherla. In all, 14 priests from various temples across the United States participated in various rituals.
The temple is spread over a 15,000 square-foot multi-storey facility, located on 13.5 acre site with rolling hills, at 700 James Burgess Road, Suwanee, Ga 30024 and its web site is www.AtlantaSaiTemple.org.
As the main priests took kalashas with holy water to the top of the temple with the help of a crane and performed the sikhara kumbhabhishekam, flowers were showered on the raja gopuram from a helicopter.
Mahamandaleswar Swami Maheswarananda Puri, who has been on a tour to US, visited the temple on the opening day of festivities.